When most people think about Knute Rockne they think about one of the most famous halftime speeches in sports history.

But Rockne's legacy stretches well beyond the campus of Notre Dame University and his "Win one for the Gipper" speech.

Jim Lefebvre said Rockne's influence helped to spur the advancement of football and believes that Rockne's impact helped make it the game that had about 50 million people watching Sunday's Super Bowl.

Lefebvre, author of the 2013 book "Coach For A Nation: The Life and Times of Knute Rockne" will be making three appearances in the Lehigh Valley this week to tell the complete story of one of the most renowned coaches in American sports history.

He will be at the Knights of Columbus in Allentown at 7 p.m. on Wednesday followed by a session at the University Center at DeSales on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. and another talk inside Bethlehem Catholic's auditorium at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

All are free to the public.

An appearance at Central Catholic's Rockne Hall, though most appropriate, hasn't been scheduled.

"The Rockne story goes way beyond Notre Dame and that's the major point of the book," said Lefebvre, who is the founder and editor of the Forever Irish website and whose first book in 2008 detailed the story of the Four Horsemen and Notre Dame's 1924 national championship team.

"Knute Rockne was able to travel the country and influence the game and influence other coaches in a way that no one else has ever done. People know him for the rah-rah speech and he had a theatrical bent and all of that, but that's just a small sliver of who he was."

Rockne's record of 105-12-5 in 13 seasons is the best of any major college or professional football coach in terms of winning percentage (.881).

Those numbers, however, don't do justice to his legacy either.

"Did he understand the game better than anyone at the time? Absolutely," Lefebvre said. "Did he coach his players to intricate precision? There's no doubt about it. The Notre Dame shift and everything else they did was done to such timing and precision and deception that it was almost unstoppable.

"But I take his legacy to another level and it goes to human relations. It's how he was able to get the most out of his players no matter where they came from, no matter what their background was. It blows you away sometimes when you learn that many of his players had not played high school football. Back then many high schools didn't play football because they were too small."

So, many of Rockne's players arrived at Notre Dame not having any experience.

"A whole part of my presentation is about how he was able to create that bond and get the maximum out of other individuals," Lefebvre said. "It was unbelievable what he could do. And that's something that applies to any line of work someone might be involved with today. Any kind of manager can learn from the things that made Knute Rockne successful."

Even though he coached in a very different time, Rockne's vision helped create the large crowds, immaculate facilities, huge TV contracts and the general big business of college football today.

"He had this vision of big games in big stadiums," Lefebvre said. "It was mostly baseball stadiums back then. Now you're seeing the rebirth of the neutral-site game, which is happening all over the country. He would love that.

"He would love anything that gets the game in front of different audiences. He foresaw television as he was having his games broadcast on radio which he was also visionary about. And, he would probably like the spread offenses of today because he devised a version of it way back then in terms of opening up the field.

"A few short years before he coached, the game almost folded up because of the brutality. It was just 11 guys smashing against 11 bodies with sometimes horrific results physically. His vision was opening up the game and allowing the little guy like himself — 5-foot-8, 165 pounds — to be able to compete with speed, deception, teamwork, precision. He'd like certain aspects of the game today."

Lefebvre grew up in Green Bay in the 1960s where he admired another famous football coach by the name of Lombardi. The Packers' Lambeau Field is named after Curly Lambeau, the co-founder of the franchise who played for Rockne at Notre Dame and played in the same backfield as Gipp.

Rockne's coaching tree has deep roots, but there's little doubt that Notre Dame football and Rockne's legacy wouldn't have been the same without each other.

"He had agreements in place to coach at Columbia University and then the next year Southern Cal, but had to backtrack because he hadn't gone to the fathers at Notre Dame and asked for permission to be released," Lefebvre said. "So at numerous points in the story, he could have left. The whole thing could have turned out differently.

"But neither would have been the same without the other. Call it destiny, fate or whatever. They were destined to be intertwined in history."

Lefebvre's presentations include a Q-and-A and book signings.

For more information on the book or Lefebvre, go to http://www.coachforanation.com.

Nike coaches clinic

Nike Coach of the Year clinic director Steve Shiffert, the Easton High football coach, has announced that University of Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich will head a group of Nike-featured speakers at the Eastern Pennsylvania NIKE Coach of the Year Football Clinic.

The clinic runs March 5–7 at the Holiday Inn and Conference Center off I-78 in Fogelsville.

Other speakers include Kyle Flood of Rutgers University, Bronco Mendenhall of Brigham Young University, Mike Stoops of Kentucky University, and Tim Murphy of Harvard. Helfrich's talk is set for 7:45 p.m. on March 6.